Arranging electronic components, such as converters or filters, in particular devices for producing electric energy, in power switch cabinets is known from the prior art. Wind turbines are often fitted with double-fed asynchronous generators, since in this way only part of the output has to be transported via the converters of the turbine. At speeds below the synchronous speed of the generator the efficiency of the turbine drops, however. Therefore synchronous generators with full-power converters are increasingly being used. With these systems, however, all the power to be fed out to the mains passes through a single converter, so that this must have a suitably dimensioned and scalable design. Furthermore, because of the high powers required additional challenges are posed by the need for cooling with a simultaneously compact design of the switch cabinet.
With systems that use double-fed asynchronous generators, however, in which only part of the power has to be passed through the converters, ever-more compact designs of the switch cabinet or cabinets are demanded.
Published application EP 1 903 848 B1 describes a modular frequency converter, where the power electronics part is provided with wheels, and an installation cabinet for receiving the power electronics part. In order to connect the power electronics part to the rest of the frequency converter, complicated and costly connectors are required. In addition the electrical power is initially fed upwards in the installation cabinet via a cable through the power electronics part, in order then to supply the power electronics part downwards again and the rest of the frequency converter upwards. The result of this is complicated cabling and a high space requirement.
Published application U.S. Pat. No. 7,859,838 B2 relates to an arrangement for positioning a converter or frequency converter in a switch cabinet. Here the frame of the switch cabinet has a modular design so that the components of the frequency converter can be installed in the switch cabinet modules before the switch cabinet is taken to its place of use. The disadvantage of this, however, is that the individual components such as breakers, fuses, inverters, braking resistors and frequency converters are distributed across various cabinets, requiring further complicated cabling and cooling with a plurality of cooling devices. Following installation in the fabric, subsequent scalability in-situ is only possible with great effort. In addition, the individual frame modules require a comparatively large amount of space.